Georgia: New visa rules come into effect

International guests wanting to enter Georgian territory must comply with the country’s new visa regulations.

From today, no citizen can enter Georgia for 360 days.

Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced visa free travel with Georgia had been revoked for 24 countries however citizens from 94 countries were eligible to enter Georgia without a visa for a 90 day period.

Today the Ministry launched a webpage where foreign citizens can visit to find all details of Georgia's new visa requirements and other consular information.

Meanwhile last week Georgia published a list detailing which countries do not need a visa to enter Georgia.

See the full list of countries eligible in the visa-free regime below.

Under the old rules, citizens from 118 countries were able to enter Georgia without a visa and stay for a maximum of 360 days. But from today, citizens from 94 countries will be able to enter Georgia without a visa however they can only stay for a maximum of 90 days in a 180 day period.

The visa regulations were fully consistent with European Union (EU) Visa regulation standards, Minister of Foreign Affairs Maia Panjikidze highlighted today. She clarified that according to the new rules, no one from any country was eligible to enter Georgia for 360 days.

Obtaining a visa will be possible only at Georgia’s diplomatic representative locations. Visas will be issued on the state border only in ‘’special cases’’ determined by the Government.

Alongside the visa changes, Foreign Minister Panjikidze emphasized Georgia would strengthen its consular services abroad.

Although we do not have consulates in all 194 countries, we have them in major countries and cities. Therefore it will be no problem getting a visa in these consulates. We will use all other consulates to serve citizens interested to enter in our country, Panjikidze said.

The cost of obtaining a visa has become universal for all citizens all over the globe, costing $50 USD (86 GEL).

Before the changes different prices were established for different types of visas however after introducing the new bill, this has changed and from now on all types of visas for representatives of all countries will cost $50, said Georgia’s Foreign Ministry Consulate Department director Giorgi Tabatadze.

Meanwhile, when planning a longer visit to Georgia all citizens are required to obtain an immigration visa, regardless of nationality. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this change was noted in the Association Agreement (AA) and this must be done before the traveller arrived in Georgia.

The Ministry confirmed people had the possibility to apply for a visa online and while this service was not available yet, this would be possible in the near future.